Efectos toxicológicos del arsénico en el arroz, Oryza sativa L.

Abstract

Arsenic is a metalloid present in all nature, and the main source of human exposure is water and food. It has been evidenced considerable concentrations of arsenic in rice in some regions of the world, where inorganic forms are highly toxic for humans. Due to this fact, the aim of this research was to identify the toxicological effects on human health by the ingestion of contaminated rice (Oryza sativa L.) through the deep analysis of current literature, namely scientific articles published between 2010 - 2020. The applied methodology is descriptive, explanatory and integrative by means of a case study. The research was conducted in digital databases such as PubMed, among others that allowed the final selection of 55 articles. The statistical analysis contributed to the interpretation of the results, where 61.5% of the corpus indicated that there are toxicological effects on human health due to the consumption of arsenic-contaminated rice. The main chronic consequence includes the risk of cancer. Findings show that the most common arsenical form registered was (As-i), and the most used analytical method for speciation was liquid chromatography (HPLC-ICP-MS). The main edaphoclimatic factors and the most widely used biomarker to evaluate arsenic exposure were identified, too. Hence, it is important to monitor groundwater used for irrigation of rice fields; as well as the compliance with current sanitary regulations that guarantee food safety and security for human consumption.